A9 road closures, number and length of time and reason: EIR release

FOI reference: FOI/18/02421
Date received: 27 August 2018  
Date responded: 18 September 2018

 

Information requested
The statistical information regarding road closures over the last twelve months (number and length of time and reason), presumably this info would be available under freedom of information legislation.

The section of concern is A9 from Inverness to Perth. The problem is that on this route there is often no alternative diversion.

Response
As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations.  We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA. 

This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’.  Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.  We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes.  This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

In response to your request, please refer to Annex A which details the road closures on the A9 between Perth and Inverness between 01/09/2017 and 31/08/2018. This includes information regarding the reason for and duration of each incident. 

The section of the A9 between Dunblane and Inverness has been the subject of ongoing monitoring for the three years following the introduction of the Average Speed Camera System in October 2014. Performance reporting for this section of the A9 is available via the following website http://a9road.info/resources/publications/ and the most recent report indicates that restriction times as a result of incidents reduced by 25% in 2017 when compared with the “baseline” period (pre average speed cameras) despite a recorded 13% increase in traffic volumes. Increased journey time reliability is also reported.

Transport Scotland and our Road Operating Companies work closely with Police Scotland to manage incidents as effectively as possible. The decision to close a road for evidential or safety reasons is a matter for Police Scotland and any request for information regarding associated policies or procedures should be directed to them.

 

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